Practical uses of AR

Augmented reality is fast becoming the latest disruptive technology on everyones radars. As with all of the new technologies, there will be the problem of bandwagon jumping. Client: ‘It looks preeetty, I want one. (But I don’t know why)’. The trick will be in creating either truely engaging and entertaining uses or on the other hand something practical. And this is where AKQA have done a nice job.

They have created an augmented reality campaign for The United States Postal Service, which allows you to figure out which box is best for the shipment you need to send. So nicely takes away the guess work and makes sending parcels, that bit more easy. So ultimately you spend your $ with them.

AR is still going to suffer the problems that a) people don’t have webcams and b) can’t be bothered downloading and printing the symbol/icon which activates the software. However, if UPS were to start printing the symbols on printed marketing literature, perhaps combined with a DM campaign then this could further bolster the campaign.

I like this idea a lot. It is a step in the right direction. I much prefer practical uses of technology. I guess that’s a personal preference. But hopefully, we will see many more uses like this in the future.

Update – I saw a better more practical and frankly genius (seem so obvious when you point it out type affair) idea from a clothing company: